Makino Chaya (Seoul, Korea)- Eating Raw Crab, Belgium Waffles, and Salmon Nigri for Lunch

Makino Chaya is a Japanese style buffet located in Gangnam, Korea. It is the richest area of Seoul and it is obvious when you walk down the street. Cosmetic surgery advertisements everywhere...Louis Vuitton everywhere... high heels everywhere...

My friends and I decided to make the trip here from Anam (where Korea University is located) to try out this buffet because we heard it was pretty good.

There is also another buffet on my to-eat list that was recommended to me by a fellow friend/reader, Louis, called Bono-Bono Buffet in Coex Mall. Sadly, I haven’t found the time to go yet. Maybe I’ll go sometime this week!

We went for lunch and unfortunately, we got there a bit late. We arrived at 1:30pm and they said we could only stay until 3:00pm because of the “break time” from 3:30-6:00pm. At first I was worried that an hour and a half wouldn’t be long enough because I eat quite slow and like to take my time getting seconds, thirds, and fourths...=.=, but it actually ended up being okay.

The interior is very modern with very comfortable seating.

They even have a live tank!

Chiness Cusine Yangkochi (Seoul, Korea)- Art of Grilling Meat

I have been eating spicy food every day since I came to Korea so one day I was in search for anything but Korean food so I could give my taste buds a little break.

My friends and I came across ‘Chiness Cusine Yangkochi’ (it’s not a typo) which is a Chinese restaurant located near the campus. It is on the second floor and pretty hidden so you have to search for the sign,“ The Ho Bar” which is directly underneath.

What’s cool about this Chinese place is that their specialty is this rotating grill thing in the middle of the table.

You first order your skewers and they will give it to you raw like this. This plate of meat costs 16,000 won which is about $15 CAD.

BIYA (Seoul, Korea)- Buddha, Buddha, Buddaejjigae

One thing I really appreciate about living on campus at KU is that there are a billion of restaurants nearby within a ten minute walking distance. Most of them are quite inexpensive due to the large population of poor starving students.

I think you will begin to notice a trend in my restaurant posts. :P A lot of them will be near my campus because that is where I usually dine during the weekdays when I have class. This particular restaurant called BIYA specializes in Buddaejjigae which is essentially ‘army base stew’. I will mention why it’s called that a few pictures down.

The Buddaejjigae is 5,500 won per person which is equivalent to $5 CAD.

I realize every Korean restaurant has a stove in the middle of the table and this one was no exception. They brought this giant pot full of random things like cheese, rice cakes, onions, spam, ham, kimchi, red pepper paste, green onions, and vermicelli to the table and proceeded to boil it in front of our  faces causing my face to turn red (like always). We shared two pots of this for six people.

The VERY Waffle (Seoul, Korea)- $1 Freshly Made Ice-Cream Waffle!Yum...

Near the Korea University campus, there is a very little and special shop that many students like to go to for a quick snack or after dinner dessert. This place is called "The VERY Waffle" (the name sounds as weird to you as it is to me) and they serve freshly made waffles. 

They have a small window for you to order and another window for you to pick up your waffles.

On the right is their pick up window and on the left is something I found very interesting. It might hard to see but apparently one item on their menu is "Waffle which was sold the best yesterday". Isn't that weird? And cool? LOL

Eating Live Octopus with Foodology (Diana) in Seoul, Korea!

When Diana and I decided to meet in Seoul, we both had one goal in mind: eat live raw octopus. It’s a common dish in Korea called Sannakji which means eating octopus raw and when it’s alive. Some people eat the octopus whole and some have them cut up (their nerves remain active awhile after they are dead). We didn’t want to die from the possibility of its tentacles wrapping around our esophagus, so we stuck with the cut up version.

We were walking around Meyong Dong and took notice to a particular restaurant that had a tank in the front. The place is called “MeeNeeMaNee”. I have no clue what it means but if you want to come here just look for the orange sign and cow-holding-a-hotpot logo. :P

There were small octopuses swimming around inside and we actually stared at them for a while, most likely from anticipation, fear and fascination.

Here is a video of the octopuses casually swimming around in the tank... unaware of their imminent death.

The interior was pretty nice inside and most people were actually having hot pot. I noticed no one else was eating Sannakji and some people stared at us when it was served to us. But I guess that’s because most locals don’t normally eat this stuff regularly. It’s more of a foreigners thing.

Miss Lee Cafe (Seoul, Korea)- Cafe of Handwritten (Love) Notes and Deceiving Shaved Ice

A few days ago, I realized via facebook that Diana (from foodology) was going to be staying in Seoul for a few days so I instantly contacted her to set up a day to hang. Knowing the both of us, I could already tell that we will both be spending the whole day eating... and enjoy it.

We met up at Myeong Dong and after a few hours of walking in the rain, we wanted somewhere to sit and escape the downpour. We ended up at this place called “Miss Lee Cafe”.

Miss Lee Cafe is a pretty well known cafe in Seoul because they were once featured in this Korean variety show called “We Got Married” (something like that). We both have never watched the episode but decided to come here anyways.

This cafe is known for its iconic “Miss Lee” face and their lunch boxes/shaved ice.

Even the stairs and walls are all branded with Miss Lee characters.

Bau Haus Dog Cafe (Seoul, Korea) - "IT'S SO FLUFFY!"

The day after I landed, my roommate brought her friends and I to this place called “Bau Haus Dog Cafe” in Hongdae (get off at Hongik Univ station). Now, you may wonder, what is a dog cafe? At first, I thought it was a cafe where they serve food to dogs. But no, it turns out this dog cafe is a cafe where you can sit, get a drink, and play with dogs! You can also bring your own dog here too.

It took us a while to locate this cafe (it’s in an awkward location) but after walking a while, we found it!

There is a big sign at the front but the entrance is actually in the back so you have to follow these ‘Bau House’ signs.

When we walked in, we were instantly greeted by 20-30 dogs!! There were little dogs, big dogs, furry dogs, hairless dogs, and they were just all happily running around. :) I absolutely ADORE dogs and puppies, so needless to say, I wanted to stay here forever. :P

Admission to this dog cafe is free, but you need to order a drink. Their drinks were obviously overpriced ($6.00-8.00 CAD per drink) but that’s to be expected since you don’t need to pay for anything else. I ordered a Strawberry Banana Yogurt Smoothie ($7.00) and it was really delicious!

Kirby Goes to Seoul, Korea! Let The Foodie Adventures Begin :)

Hello Y’all! This is Kirby reporting from Seoul, Korea! I arrived about four days ago and I am actually going to be living in South Korea for a month for an international exchange program! Then I will be moving to Hong Kong where I will reside there for another month before I’m back in Vancouver. I’m very excited about my stay here and I’m definitely not going to waste the opportunity to document my foodie adventures!

I’m sure many of you know that food here in South Korea is ridiculously cheap and delicious! That’s why I am determined to taste as much cheap (harhar :P),unique, and delicious food while I’m here. :D By the way, I am currently studying in Korea University (picture above).

To start off, I took a direct flight from Vancouver to Korea via the ‘KoreanAir’ airline. The seats were pretty comfortable and there were a lot of movies, games, and music to choose from.

I thought this was pretty cool. A video game console! I played some blackjack with this remote but it was okay. LOL Not as fun as I thought.